The Executive Yuan yesterday approved amendments that would eliminate a requirement to keep political files and national security information permanently confidential.
When political files are categorized as classified national security information, the content should be declassified after 40 years, the amendments state.
The amendments to the Political Archives Act (政治檔案條例) and the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) are part of government efforts to pursue transitional justice on behalf of those who were politically persecuted following the 228 Incident in 1947 and during the Martial Law era from 1949 to 1987.
Photo courtesy of the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee
More than 4,500 political files are permanently classified, National Archives Administration Director-General Lin Chiu-yen (林秋燕) said.
“Once the amendments take effect, starting from Feb. 28 next year, government agencies that possess these permanently classified files would be required to conduct a comprehensive review within six months,” she said. “Should they fail to finish the review within the designated period, the files would be automatically declassified.”
The agency’s preliminary survey showed that about half of the files would be declassified after having remained confidential for four decades, Lin said.
Asked whether investigations into the murders at former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Lin I-hsiung’s (林義雄) residence on Feb. 8, 1980, and the Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) Incident in 1981 would be declassified, Lin Chiu-yen said that the National Security Bureau, which possesses these files, would first have to discuss related issues with the National Security Council before the files can be disclosed.
Lin I-hsiung’s mother and twin daughters were killed after he was arrested and put in jail on Dec. 13, 1979, for participating in a human rights rally in Kaohsiung three days earlier.
Chen, an assistant professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was visiting family in Taiwan when he was found dead near a library at National Taiwan University on July 3, 1981.
A day earlier, the 31-year-old had been detained and interrogated by the Taiwan Garrison Command, a state security force that has since been disbanded.
The amendments to the Political Archives Act would also authorize the government to continue and expand the collection of political files, including records and documents on the 228 Incident and the Martial Law era that were produced after Nov. 6, 1992.
Aside from government agencies and state-affiliated organizations, political parties and their affiliated organizations should report and submit political files under their possession, which should be included in the political archives following a review.
If political files contain state secrets and national intelligence sources, a photocopy of the files would be added to the political archives after such information is redacted or removed.
The amendments would also remove a requirement to restrict access to certain political files for 50 years due to potentially serious effects on national security and foreign relations.
Instead, the bill states that access to political files must not be restricted because of regulations in the National Intelligence Service Act (國家情報工作法).
However, if political files contain identities of agents in China, intelligence operations in other countries or other national security information, and declassifying such files would jeopardize the nation’s overseas intelligence operations and put personnel in danger, agencies and organizations can request an extension of up to three years at a time in accordance with the National Intelligence Service Act.
The amendments would also require the government to notify stakeholders of the political files that they can request to have files returned to them.
If the files contain sensitive personal information, stakeholders should be informed that they have priority access, own the right to attach their input and can decide whether they would allow others to access the information.
Political files containing private information of stakeholders can be accessed by third parties only after such information is redacted or removed, unless the files have been classified for 70 years, or stakeholders have agreed to such use or have perished.
The amendments to the Classified National Security Information Protection Act require the confidentiality of national security information sources and state secrets to be confined to 30 years.
Agencies or organizations can request an extension of up to 10 years if confidentiality remains crucial, provided that permission is granted.
Officials must also secure permission to extend the confidentiality period for information that has been classified more than 60 years, based on the amendments.
The amendments would require personnel who have access to confidential information to report to the government after they meet with contacts in China, Hong Kong, Macau and other countries.
Individuals who fail to report would be punished.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would